Water Dragon Style
Flowing Water Defense
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: Essence in turns
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None
The peculiar liquid, dancing
moves of the Water Dragon fighting style allows those trained in them to flow
out of the way of opponent’s blows like water. For a number of turns following
invocation equal to her Essence, subtract one die from the martial artist’s own
attack pools. Anyone attempting any attack against the Dragon-Blooded during
that time subtracts three dice from his pool for that action. A character can
only benefit from the effects of this Charm once at any given time.
Rippling Water Strike
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Flowing
Water Defense
Like ripples emanating from a
pebble dropped into the glassy surface of water, the force of an attack
enhanced by Rippling Water Strike spreads outward from the point of impact to
affect those nearby. The target of the attack takes normal damage, but everyone
but the Immaculate within 10 feet of the target takes bashing damage equal to
the successes rolled on the damage roll ― if the target takes no health levels
of damage, there is no ripple damage. This bashing damage can be soaked as
normal and cannot be converted to lethal.
The Immaculate cannot be
selective about who is affected by the Rippling Water Strike. Friends are as
susceptible as foes.
Drowning-In-Blood Technique
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Rippling
Water Strike
The body, as anyone can see,
contains a lot of water ― blood. Dragon-Blooded warriors who learn the
hidden tides and currents of blood can strike in such a way as to cause
internal bleeding into an enemy’s lungs. The victim can literally drown in his
own blood.
To use this Charm, the attacker
makes a successful Martial Arts attack against his opponent, which does no
damage. However, if the attack succeeds, the Immaculate’s player then rolls a
reflexive opposed test of the Exalt’s Strength + Martial Arts against the
target’s Stamina + Resistance. If the Immaculate wins the contest, the target
loses one point of Stamina for as many turns as the player rolled extra
successes. Though the Drowning-in-Blood Technique itself does not inflict
health levels of damage, it may look like a series of rapid-fire punches or
some other attack. Subsequent uses of the Charm are cumulative. A character
whose Stamina reaches zero from the effects of this Charm is dead.
Shrugging Water Dragon Escape
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite Charms: Rippling
Water Strike
With a focusing of Essence, the
Immaculate can cast off any restraint, magical or physical. Chains shatter,
ropes snap, handcuffs drop from the Exalt’s wrists. Anything restraining the
movement of the Immaculate is cast aside. In the case of artifacts and
naturally occurring phenomena, their effects are suspended for a number of
turns equal to the Exalted’s Martial Arts score.
Water Dragon Form
Cost: 5 motes
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 4
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms:
Drowning-in-Blood Technique, Shrugging Water Dragon Escape
Bodies of water absorb force
directed against them, dissipating damage. With the execution of a few fluid
body movements, the Immaculate invoking the Water Dragon Form becomes more like
the watery element she serves.
For the remainder of the scene
after the successful invocation of the Water Dragon Form, the martial artist
gets a bonus to her lethal and bashing soaks equal to her Martial Arts Ability
and can soak lethal damage with her Stamina for the duration of the Charm. In addition,
whenever successfully attacked, the Exalt may spend additional Essence points
for extra soak on a 1 mote per 2 points of soak basis. The character may
declare how much Essence she is spending after her normal soak has been applied
but before the attacker’s player rolls damage.
In addition, the character’s
fluid form makes her blows harder to evade. Mechanically, this Charm increases
her Martial Arts by an amount equal to her permanent Essence for the duration
of the Charm. This is a Charm enhancement and counts against the maximum amount
the Dragon-Blood may increase her Martial Arts by with Charms.
Invoking the form also requires
a successful Dexterity + Martial Arts check, representing the basic execution
of the move itself. If the roll fails, the Charm does not activate, and the
motes spent to power it are not expended, but the character’s action is wasted.
Only one Form-type Charm can be
invoked at any one time. Invoking a new Form-type Charm automatically ends the
effects of any currently active Form-type Charm.
Theft-Of-Essence Method
Cost: 4 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Water
Dragon Form
After a successful attack, the
player of the Water Dragon Immaculate invoking this Charm makes an Essence +
Martial Arts roll. For every success, the Immaculate steals 3 motes of Essence
from the target and adds them to his own reserves. This target’s lost Essence
is recovered normally.
This stolen Essence can be used
by the character ― but only on other Water Dragon Path Charms. Essence
stolen in this manner fades from the Immaculate at a rate of 1 per minute.
Ghost-Restraining Whirlpool Stance
Cost: 5 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Until abandoned
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms:
Theft-of-Essence Method
By executing a few special
katas, the Immaculate invoking the Ghost-Restraining Whirlpool Stance sets up a
vortex of water Essence capable of immobilizing even very powerful spirits.
To make an attack to set up a
Ghost-Restraining Whirlpool, the martial artist spends her turn executing the
movements necessary to start the Charm. The player should roll the Immaculate’s
Dexterity + Martial Arts. The player of any spirit in the area of effect should
reflexively roll Essence in an opposed contest against the Immaculate. If the
spirit wins, the whirlpool has no effect. For every success the Dynast gets,
all spirits in the area of effect must add a +1 difficulty penalty to any
actions they take, as the roiling whirlpool of Essence draws them in.
If the difficulty penalty ever
exceeds a spirit’s permanent Essence rating, the spirit is totally immobilized,
unless its permanent Essence rating is higher than the Immaculate’s. In that
case, it still suffers the difficulty penalties but, otherwise, acts as normal.
The Ghost-Restraining Whirlpool has a radius of (10 x the character’s Essence)
in yards. While sustaining the whirlpool, the character must add +2 to the difficulty
of any tasks she attempts, to reflect the enforced formality of her movement,
and cannot move out of the area of effect without dropping the Charm.
Flow Reversal Strike
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Water
Dragon Form
If the Dragon-Blood hits his
target, for a fraction of a second, every moving fluid in the target’s body
reverses itself. Needless to say, living creatures do not react well to this.
The character makes an unarmed
martial arts attack, which does normal damage. The target’s player should roll
her character’s Stamina + Resistance against the Immaculate’s original attack
roll to hit, unreduced by attempts to dodge or parry it.
If the target does not exceed
the Dragon-Blood’s successes, the effects vary. Normal mortals and animals of
less than twice the Immaculate’s size failing the Resistance roll are killed
outright. Exalted and other magical beings take a single automatic level of
unsoakable lethal damage. Aquatic or amphibious creatures take two levels of
damage. Even if a target’s player succeeds at the Resistance roll, she must
subtract two dice from any action involving physical activity for the
Immaculate’s Martial Arts in turns.
This Charm only works against
living corporeal beings. Spirit, magical constructs and other non-living (or
unliving) beings are unaffected.
Crashing Wave Style
Cost: 4 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Extra action
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms: Flow
Reversal Strike
The ocean pounds, the shores
with savage fury, and Water-aspected Immaculates can channel that fury. Upon
making a successful martial arts attack, the Dragon-Blood may invoke this Charm
and immediately make another attack, at -1 die to her pool. If the attack is
successful, the Immaculate may make a further attack, but the penalty to her
die pool doubles to -2, on the third to -4, and so on. Each additional attack
doubles the penalty yet again. If the penalties reduce an Immaculate’s dice
pool to zero, she may not make any further attacks. The maximum number of
attacks a Dragon-Blood may make in this manner is equal to her Martial Arts
rating.
Bottomless Depths Defense
Cost: 5 motes, 1 health level
Duration: One turn
Type: Reflexive
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite Charms:
Ghost-Restraining Whirlpool Stance, Crashing Wave Style
When this Charm is invoked, the
Immaculate immediately takes a single health level of aggravated damage. All
other damage the Immaculate suffers for the rest of the turn is negated, drawn
down into the bottomless abyss of the Water Dragon. This Charm may be used
reflexively in response to being attacked, but it must be invoked before
the damage for the attack is rolled.
Most walkers on the Water Dragon
Path save this Charm for very extreme circumstances. The benefits can be high,
but so are the consequences.
Essence-Dousing Wave Attack
Cost: 8 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: Varies
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms: Bottomless
Depths Defense
The dark, smothering Essence of
the Water Dragon can be channeled through a Dynast’s blows to douse the
metaphorical fire of an opponent’s magic.
To invoke this Charm, the
Exalted makes a normal martial arts attack, either armed or unarmed. The attack
does normal damage, and if the target is actually hurt by the attack (that is,
loses health levels), the martial artist’s player should make an immediate
reflexive Martial Arts + Essence roll with a difficulty equal to the target’s
Essence. For a number of turns equal to the successes that the Immaculate gets,
all Charms and sorcery affecting the target are suppressed. If the number of
successes exceeds the Essence of the character who invoked an affected Charm or
cast an affected spell, the magic is actually dispelled.
Characters affected can renew
Charms on themselves during the duration of the suppression. Unless the Charms
are specifically noted as having cumulative benefits, characters who suddenly
have the same Charm active on them twice when the suppression ends gain no
special benefits, and even cumulative Charms cannot exceed their normal maximum
effectiveness.
This Charm can be used on
friendly targets, but the martial artist must do at least one health level of
bashing damage to trigger the effect.
Tsunami Force Shout
Cost: 10 motes, 1 Willpower, 1
health level
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum Martial Arts: 5
Minimum Essence: 4
Prerequisite Charms:
Essence-Dousing Wave Attack
The Tsunami Force Shout radiates
out from the Immaculate in a 45-degree arc, reaching out to her Essence in
yards. Anyone, friend or foe, caught in the area of effect takes twice the
Dynast’s Martial Arts + Essence as damage, as a wave of Water Essence washes
over them.
The type of damage varies,
depending on the characters’ strength of spirit. The players of everyone caught
in the area of effect must make a reflexive Essence check. If the roll botches,
the damage is aggravated and automatic ― everything not soaked translates
into an automatic health level of aggravated damage. If the roll fails, the
damage is aggravated but rolled normally. With at least three successes on the
Essence roll, the damage is bashing.